Beginning

Greeting

1 Paul, Silas,^[a] and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.^[b]

Thanksgiving for the Faith of the Thessalonians

² We always give thanks to God for all of you as we make mention of you in our prayers, ³ because we constantly remember before God our Father your work produced by faith, your labor produced by love, and your patient endurance produced by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ Dear brothers,^[c] loved by God, we know that God has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel did not come to you with mere words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. You yourselves know very well what kind of people we proved to be for your sake, while we were with you. ⁶ You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you welcomed the word during a time of great affliction with the joy from the Holy Spirit, ⁷ so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.^{[d] 8} Indeed, the word of the Lord has resounded from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith in God has become known. As a result, we do not need to say anything, ⁹ because they themselves inform us about what kind of reception we received from you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. ¹⁰ They also report how you patiently wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, the one who is going to rescue us from the coming wrath.

Paul Defends His Ministry Among the Thessalonians

2 Indeed, brothers, you yourselves know that our visit to you was not a waste of time. ² Even though we had suffered previously and were treated shamefully in Philippi (as you know), we were bold in our God to speak the gospel of God to you in the face of great opposition. ³ For our appeal does not come from error or impure motives, or by way of deceit. ⁴ Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts. ⁵ Indeed, as you know, we never at any time used flattering speech, nor did we act with greed as a motive. God is our witness. ⁶ Also, we did not seek the praise of people (neither yours nor anyone else’s), ⁷ even though we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles. On the contrary, we were gentle^[e] among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸ We yearned for you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

⁹ Surely, brothers, you remember our labor and hardship! We worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you, while we preached the gospel of God to you. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devout, righteous, and blameless we were toward you who believe. ¹¹ In the same way, you know that we treated each of you as a father deals with his own children: ¹² encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who is calling you into his kingdom and glory.

¹³ There is also another reason we give thanks to God unceasingly, namely, when you received God’s word, which you heard from us, you did not receive it as the word of men but as the word of God (as it really is), which is now at work in you who believe. ¹⁴ Yes, brothers, you became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus, because you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews ¹⁵ who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and who severely persecuted us. They are not pleasing to God and are hostile to all people. ¹⁶ By hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved, they are always filling up the full measure of their sins. And the wrath has come upon them completely.^[f]

Paul’s Desire to See the Thessalonians

¹⁷ As for us, brothers, after we were separated from you like orphans for just a short time (in person, not in our heart), it was with great desire that we made every effort to see you again in person. ¹⁸ For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, wanted this, not just once, but twice), but Satan hindered us. ¹⁹ Indeed, who is our hope or joy or crown about which we boast before our Lord Jesus when he returns? Is it not you? ²⁰ Yes, you are our glory and our joy.

Timothy’s Mission and Good Report

3 So, when we could not stand it any longer, we thought it best to remain behind in Athens alone, ² and we sent Timothy, our brother and coworker for God in the gospel of Christ.^[g] We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, ³ so that no one will be shaken by these trials, for you know well that we are destined for this. ⁴ In fact, even when we were with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to suffer, and it happened just that way, as you know. ⁵ This is why, when I could not stand it any longer, I sent to find out about your faith, because I was afraid that somehow the Tempter had tempted you and our labor might have been for nothing.

⁶ But now, Timothy has returned to us from you and has told us the good news about your faith and love. He also told us that you always have fond memories of us and long to see us, just as much as we also long to see you. ⁷ Because of this, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been encouraged about you through your faith. ⁸ For now we really live, if you are standing firm in the Lord. ⁹ Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have before God on account of you? ¹⁰ Night and day we are praying earnestly to see you in person and to supply what is lacking in your faith.

¹¹ May God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. ¹² And may the Lord increase your love and make it overflow for each other and for all people, just as ours does for you, ¹³ so that he may establish your hearts as blameless in holiness before our God and Father, when our Lord Jesus comes with all his saints.^[h]

Instruction Concerning Sexual Propriety

4 Therefore, beyond this, brothers, just as you received instruction from us about how you are to walk^[i] so as to please God (as indeed you are doing), we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that you do so even more. ² To be sure, you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³ Indeed, this is God’s will: that you be sanctified, namely, that you keep yourselves away from sexual immorality. ⁴ He wants each of you to learn to obtain a wife^[j] for yourself^[k] in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in lustful passion like the heathen, who do not know God. ⁶ No one is to overstep and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we said previously and solemnly testified to it. ⁷ For God did not call us for uncleanness, but in sanctification. ⁸ Consequently, whoever rejects this is not rejecting a man, but the God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Instruction Concerning Brotherly Love and Labor

⁹ Concerning brotherly love, there is no need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God, with the result that you love one another. ¹⁰ In fact, you are doing so toward all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to do this even more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, just as we instructed you. ¹² Do this so that you are conducting yourselves decently toward outsiders and are not lacking anything.

Instruction Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead at Christ’s Second Coming

¹³ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep,^[l] so that you do not grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope. ¹⁴ Indeed, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

¹⁵ In fact, we tell you this by the word of the Lord: We who are alive and left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not go on ahead of those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

Instruction Concerning the Signs of the End Times

5 Concerning the times and dates, brothers, there is no need to write to you, ² for you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ When people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will suddenly come on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will certainly not escape. ⁴ But you, brothers, are not in the dark so that this day takes you by surprise like a thief, ⁵ for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. ⁶ So then let us not sleep like everyone else, but rather let us remain alert and sober.

⁷ To be sure, those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ You see, God did not appoint us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹ Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are also doing.

Final Exhortations and Greetings

¹² Brothers, we ask you to take note of those who work hard among you, who exercise leadership over you in the Lord, and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love, on account of their work. Live at peace with each other.

¹⁴ We also encourage you, brothers, to admonish those who are idle. Encourage those who are discouraged, help those who are weak, and be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See to it that no one repays evil with evil, but instead, always strive to do good to each other and to everyone else.

¹⁶ Rejoice always. ¹⁷ Pray without ceasing. ¹⁸ In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not extinguish the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt. ²¹ But^[m] test everything. Hold on to the good. ²² Keep away from every kind^[n] of evil.

²³ May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

²⁵ Brothers, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I put you under oath to the Lord to read this letter to all the holy^[o] brothers.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.